MACON, Ga. — The father of a 20-month-old toddler killed in Macon had previously been released on bond on separate family violence charges, an incident report from the sheriff's office says.
Her 19-year-old father Akiem Jamal Jordan and 20-year-old Rahem Farrell are accused of killing the toddler after fighting and injuring the baby's grandmother.
Family members did not want to speak on camera, but they said they were cleaning the Flamingo Drive home up after the gruesome attack early Wednesday morning.
Lakenya Hutchings says Janet Dorn – the woman Akiem allegedly attacked – is her mother and lives at the Flamingo Drive home. Hutchings is Bella Jordan's aunt.
She says Jordan and Farrell stabbed Dorn in the head and arms and beat her. Hutchings says her mother is in the hospital and stable.
Hutchings says Jordan visited his daughter at the home often and had custody of her last week. She says she doesn't know why he would allegedly kill his own daughter.
Macon-Bibb Deputy Coroner Lonnie Miley says Bella was badly beaten and had multiple stab wounds when deputies arrested Jordan and Ferrell at the Timber Pointe apartments on Old Clinton Road.
Both Akiem and Ferrell are in the Bibb County jail, charged with murder and aggravated assault.
Bella's family says her funeral will be at a later date. Her body hasn't come back from the GBI Crime Lab.
This isn't the first time Jordan is accused of attacking someone in a similar way.
According to the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, Akiem also attacked the toddler's mother, Shandrea Spencer, in May 2023.
According to an incident report, Spencer told officers that during a break in their relationship, she told him she was seeing someone else.
Spencer said he started crying then stabbed her with a small dagger.
We asked the Macon District Attorney's Office about the status of Jordan's 2023 charges.
They said in a statement that the Magistrate Court granted a bond for Jordan in May 2023 after he attacked his daughter's mother.
They say they are still waiting to set a trial date for it.
District Attorney Anita Howard says from now on, they'll have conversations with the court about denying bonds on every domestic violence case in which a victim is seriously injured to give them time to evaluate how much of a danger they are to the victim.
Here is their full statement:
ANITA R. HOWARD
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
February 15, 2024
The two incidences involving Akien Jordan have tragically impacted two families. These matters with Jordan are currently open investigations. Therefore, we cannot provide details outside of what is already public information.
On Monday, May, 1, 2023, the Magistrate Court granted a bond to Jordan for the Aggravated Assault case which had occurred on April 29, 2023. Jordan bonded out of jail on that same date.
Jordan was indicted by the Bibb County Grand Jury on June 21, 2023 (which was within 90 days of his arrest), and was charged with the initial warrant counts of Aggravated Assault with the Intent to Murder Shandrea Spencer (the mother of his child) by stabbing and Possession of a Knife During the Commission of a Felony and an additional count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. The additional count was a special presentment to the Grand Jury and upon indictment a Special Presentment Bench Warrant was issued for that count. The Special Presentment Bench Warrant was filed on July 5, 2023, and was received by the Bibb County Warrant Division on July 7, 2023, and was able to be served upon Jordan at the time of his arrest on February 14, 2024, for the Murder charge. Jordan does not have a bond on the Special Presentment charge.
At the present time Jordan’s April 29, 2023, case is awaiting placement on a calendar call calendar. Cases are placed on calendar call and on trial calendars by the superior court judges, and those calendars are issued and disseminated by the Superior Court Calendar Clerk, Raven Alston (ralston@maconbibb.us). Based on the new charges now incurred by Jordan, our Office has, today, filed a Motion to Revoke the bond for the April 29 case, and a hearing date will be set by the court.
Our Office works closely with the courts to do what we can to protect victims of domestic violence. It is common practice that if a victim of domestic violence is seriously injured by a defendant, to provide prosecutors the time to review the case in an effort to provide the proper facts and evidence to determine a defendant’s potential threat to the victim or the public.
My Office has been in conversations with the courts over this very type of issue. Going forward, we will ask the Magistrate courts to consider denying bond on every domestic violence case in which a victim is seriously injured to give the Superior court and prosecutors the time to evaluate the potential danger to a victim and the community at every stage of the judicial process and not just at hearings in the Superior courts.